8 ms·

Looks by Dr. Dre

157 points by _pius 12y ago

tptacek 12y ago
The more closely you look at Beats, the more they make sense as a serious asset to a consumer electronics company, and the less plausible the "Apple just needed to get a streaming service off the ground" story is. Two more angles to consider: * Owning Beats puts Apple hardware on the heads of a huge fraction of every mobile user, whether they use iOS or not. Having a Beats brand affinity for those users makes it easier to introduce new products to them. * Owning Beats gives Apple access to Beats sales channels; whatever retail real estate Beats has is now controlled by Apple.
- DevX101 12y ago
  > Owning Beats puts Apple hardware on the heads of a huge fraction of every mobile user You might be on to something here. What if Apple's plan is to make the headphone itself a network enabled device with access to the app store? While headphones are currently 'dumb', there's no reason it has to continue to be the case. Network enabled watches. Network enabled headphones. Network enabled glasses. If Apple get's the leading brand in all these categories, then making the leap just suddenly became a lot easier.
  - tptacek 12y ago
    Maybe. Generally, though, I'm just saying: you should look at all the elements of the business: the promotion strategy, the user base, the product positioning, the distribution and sales channels, the supply chain (as Khoi Vinh points out), the integration story... and the competitive tensions in all those places. You can't just look at the feature/function/benefit table and make a snap judgement; the feature/function/benefit list of a billion dollar business is rarely the whole story.
  - adamio 12y ago
    high-margin headphones and iPods are complimentary products, integrating an iPod into Beats is essentially making an iPod free - which is a good thing if you own Beats
- InclinedPlane 12y ago
  My theory on confusion over the Beats purchase is that Apple fanboys have a reluctance to admit that Apple is significantly a fashion company. Not the beacon of technical excellence(asterisk) they set it up to be in their mind. The reality is that Beats is also primarily a fashion company. Also with a strong brand. Also with a product line that sells at a high markup. They go together like pancakes and maple syrup. If Apple puts Beats headphones in their stores they will sell just as much as they do now. Why wouldn't Apple want a slice of that profit? And if they make a next generation Beats headphone that can only be used with Apple products? Well, that's even more money. Edit: asterisk: which is not to say that Apple lacks technical excellence, but the reason why they are so successful is not their engineering credentials, it's because they are able to marry aesthetics and engineering.
  - tptacek 12y ago
    To the extent that you can say the exact same thing about Porsche, I agree; just bear in mind that it takes more than a sense of style to execute on "Porsche". But also look how Apple integrates downmarket. To a first approximation nobody's first car is a Porsche, but the less expensive iPhones are viable first smartphones. There's something powerful about being able, at least in theory, to address the whole market that way. Porsche probably can't change the way everyone engages with cars, but Apple can do that with mobile.
    - jarek 12y ago
      I would suggest that it's more that an upmarket of mobile phones doesn't really exist right now. Pretty much everyone has the same thing. Who's the Porsche or the Rolls of mobile? To a first approximation, much of the first world can afford a 5S if they really want one. Vertu? Heh.
      - pas 12y ago
        Yeah, but a Vertu is excessive, just as a Porsche. Normcore is the word. You have to look just better than your peers, not everyone at once. So, even though a lot of people couldn't affort a pricier phone than the 5S, even those who can afford a Vertu stay on the 5S and spend on other accessories.
- bsenftner 12y ago
  Owning Beats aligns Apple with hip hop and club culture, perhaps the largest driver of global consumer entertainment outside of film/tv.
  - prawn 12y ago
    Further, it potentially heads off any challenge from an upstart or established player taking that road.
- 8ig8 12y ago
  Maybe it's not watches, but headphones? Siri + speakers you're already wearing. Health-wise, it must be beneficial to be close to the head opposed to the wrist. Maybe.
jaynos 12y ago
I find it hard to believe that apple couldn't make additional colors if they wanted. I don't think it's a lack of technological know how. They could pick that up without acquiring a entire additional company. Limited colors on the iphone or ipod make sense. For the most part, it's an item that stays in your pocket. I'm sure some people care about additional design choices, but most people solve this by buying a case (which they'd do anyway). Beats, due to the fact that they are headphones, are worn as head gear. Yes, they could have stuck with a few simple colors, but it's easier to justify lots of options when people will actually see your user wearing the product. This gives your user an incentive to want a more unique design and be willing to pay for it.
- bwy 12y ago
  I have to agree somewhat with this comment. In particular, is handling 60 SKU's really a huge problem with technology and management nowadays? It's a pity there's so much focus on small details like that and the color selection, because that's really not the main point, which the article does touch on - the two companies understand and heavily influence the consumer market and fashion, so the partnership makes sense. It's that simple. By the way, Apple was the one who made the single-look product cool, with the iPhone. It's so cool that its own colorful 5C isn't selling very well (by its standards, of course) [1]. Restricting its color choices was not only because of the difficulty in doing so, it was a deliberate design choice. [Edit, based on parent comment: And getting people to buy overpriced cases to customize instead? Genius!] 1. Google "iPhone 5C sales". Observe articles calling it, e.g., "Failure Flop" and "dismal."
  - ben1040 12y ago
    The water there is kind of muddy w/r/t the 5c because in addition to being available in multiple colors, it's also basically 2012's phone. They took the product that would have otherwise occupied the "value buyer" part of the lineup, with last year's old model, and relaunched it as if it were a new product. Is it that people prefer the single-look of the 5s, or is it that they are not willing to trade the latest-and-greatest hardware for colors? Do people care more about utility than color? Personally I like the look of the 5c better, but I wouldn't endure two years of having to enter a lockscreen PIN when I could forego the colors and get a 5s.
kadjar 12y ago
Or... maybe the reason behind the acquisition has more to do with Beats' subscription streaming service than hardware.
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acangiano 12y ago
This is an interesting take but I strongly doubt it's what motivated Apple to make the purchase.
clay_to_n 12y ago
There's this narrative that Apple's lack of design choice has helped them, by keeping things consistent. White headphones were, for a while, almost exclusively iPod earbuds. If you saw someone rocking a white headphone cable, you knew what was in their pocket. They've branched out a little, with colors for select devices, but for the most part their visual choices are very limited. Beats seems like they've done an excellent job of offering a wide selection while still keeping brand consistency and recognizability. In this regard, I think the article's speculation makes sense.
- deleted 12y ago
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- irremediable 12y ago
  This is a really interesting point. I admire how Beats have managed to differentiate themselves so effectively.
dropbear 12y ago
Not necessarily related to this article, but does anyone know how much money the "Beats Audio" partnerships with things like HP laptops and HTC phones bring in for the Beats brand? Seems like a good hedge in the laptop and smartphone markets where Apple wins regardless of whether consumers buy iPhones or competing devices that are "Powered by Beats" or whatever they call it.
fmitchell0 12y ago
as a 'backend' dev who is constantly working on their design language education, it's further proof that design is everything.
drzaiusapelord 12y ago
In the end, who knows why they bought them. I do wonder if Beats had design and technological patents a company like Apple would rather buy than fight over in court. I wouldn't be surprised if Apple just bought them so they could sell a premium non-earbud headset with zero legal woes or fears of being called a copycat. I mean Beats look like an Apple product from a bizaro world where Steve Jobs wasn't there to say no to everything that wasn't ultra-minimalistic. Everything else, like their design team, streaming customers, and brand is just gravy. Apple tries hard not to be a victim of the patent war they're always reigniting. I find it hard to believe IP isn't involved in a very, very significant way here.
nrzuk 12y ago
This article lost me at the part suggesting that Dre Beats are premium headphones. Having listened to a few different sets of these "cool" headphones I can personally think they are overpriced crap, don't think they are worth more than £20-30 tops simply based on audio quality. People are simply buying them as a fashion item!
- hsod 12y ago
  If I never heard someone shit on Dre Beats again it would be too soon. We all get it. Dre Beats are crap. Your tastes are better than the masses. This has literally nothing to do with the article, and even if it wasn't played out it would be silly semantics. They're priced like premium headphones, so that makes them premium.
- coldtea 12y ago
  >This article lost me at the part suggesting that Dre Beats are premium headphones. Premium is about price, as in "paid a premium". Dictionary.com definition #11: "of higher price or cost". It also has the meaning of higher quality, but mostly associated with the price and exclusivity (or perceived exclusivity. Premium products, like shoes and clothing, can also be had by millions of people -- it's just that not everybody can afford them easily that makes them "premium"). So being overpriced is not really ar argument against it being "premium". If anything, it's the opposite. >People are simply buying them as a fashion item! The Beats are OK-ish sound wise, but not for audiophiles. Newer, more upmarket versions, are a little better sonically however. Interestingly, they make for useful monitors if you are a musician, in the sense that tons of your listeners will use the same cans, so you get a sense of what the final master will sound for them.
  - moheeb 12y ago
    You are mixing up the definitions of "premium"; it doesn't have to be about price. People often pay a premium for something that is not worth the extra money...that is the definition of Beats headphones. The other definition of premium is analogous to high end. That is the opposite of Beats headphones.
programminggeek 12y ago
Apple already has this figured out. Perhaps it's too easy to forget the iPod, but the iPod, especially the mini, nano, and shuffle all have color as a key part of the value proposition. Apple finally did that with the iPhone 5c. The most clever thing Apple did was the 5c colors with the different colored covers. Those haven't really taken off in a huge way, but I think that is in part due to the buying cycle of phones. Apple gets mass personalization in a big way. You can still get your devices engraved by Apple I believe. The only company that I've seen take a real swing at something similar is Motorola with Moto X. Too bad Google sold them.
bluthru 12y ago
I think the author is missing something important: There is greater inventory flexibility with headphone internals than iPhone internals. Many different and very advanced technologies go into an iPhone. Most recently, the new fingerprint scanner was holding back the 5s. Every wrong assumption about color demand meant that an iPhone sale was delayed. (Assuming that it was even the correct storage size.) It's a world apart from speakers.
moskie 12y ago
It is so amazing to watch the attention that people give Apple's business decisions. Seriously, how much their actions get read into is unparalleled. Any other company, we'd just say "yup, they bought a headphone company, and now they'll be selling some more/different headphones" and then we'd move on. But with Apple, it just must, must represent some form of tidal shift.
- k-mcgrady 12y ago
  Because unlike most other big tech companies Apple doesn't make big purchases like this. They normally acquire small, unknown companies which are focussed on a specific technology Apple needs (mapping for example).
  - nirvanatikku 12y ago
    @moskie - it is indeed amazing, and it's part of their engine that makes them truly unique (that it has been this way for so long, and continues to be just as talked about). @k-mcgrady: true, but if you look at what percentage of their cash they spent on it, it's not as significant as acquisitions from other, similarly sized companies.. but your point remains: it is out of the ordinary for $aapl.
bjt 12y ago
While I don't disagree with anything in the article, I think it, and most commentators, are thinking too small. When thinking about wearable computing, one big challenge is to take a small, weird-shaped form factor, like sunglasses or watches, and cram enough computer hardware in there to support all the features that people want. Why not stick a computer in the headphones? Between the earmuffs and the headband, there's a lot more room to stick a computer into a set of Beats than there is in a wristwatch. I can imagine being able to listen to the Beats music service using just the Beats headphones, and not even needing to connect them to a computer.
- dm2 12y ago
  A bluetooth connection to the phone would be a much better option in my opinion.
  - zaroth 12y ago
    Not necessarily BT, but I totally agree with the premise. There's a limit to the number of CPUs, SSDs, and OSs a person wants to carry and manage. By all means, carry displays and HIDs of all sorts and sizes, but please drive them all from my "phone". I think this concept carries all the way to "laptops" which are nothing more than a few ounces of battery, screen, keyboard, trackpad and a radio. Just a few more generations till Apple can "do it right" and they'll deploy the tech. I guess the only "problem" is such a laptop wouldn't become obsolete fast enough...
davars 12y ago
Beats has a track record of producing consumer electronics that are accepted as fashionable. The iPhone already blurs the line between tool and accessory and it spends most of its time in a pocket or purse. A smart watch or head mounted display is more visible and needs to overcome a nerdy bias to appeal to the mass market.
Tycho 12y ago
One thing about Beats is that they really are ridiculously popular. They are consumer electronics items which are also fashion accessories. I don't think there's really any other brand like that in the industry, at least not that I can think of. Even Apple's products while stylish I'd hesitate to call them fashion accessories. Maybe they were worried primarily that Google would buy Beats and suddenly hold more 'cool' appeal than Apple (particularly with youngsters).
paulgerhardt 12y ago
As nerd-ragey as some people are about the Beats deal, they have some amazing fit and finish with regards to manufacturing. See for instance their paint: most painted plastics experience an undesirable amount of "orange peeling" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_peel_(effect) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_peel_(effect)). This is caused in part by not getting the temperature of the paint high enough to form a smooth finish. Metal can withstand significantly higher temperatures than plastic. This is usually why car paints look so much better than Krylon's. By over-molding their plastic tops around a metal base, Beats was able to increase the tolerable temperature range. Next time you roll into a Best Buy, compare the 'shinyness' and 'smoothness' of the overmolded Beats to any other plastic product made by Samsung, HP, or Sony. We learnt this through Chinese manufacturing forums where if anything, the idea of 'target demographic' does not apply - Beats simply figured out how to put a nicer finish on their product than the competition using innovative manufacturing techniques and increase margin.
- moheeb 12y ago
  "Next time you roll into a Best Buy, compare the 'shinyness' and 'smoothness' of Beats to any other product" Yeah...just don't compare the sound.
  - Crito 12y ago
    The sound on Beats is actually good; much better than what most people have with their headphones so most users will experience an improvement by switching to them. The problem is that the cost:sound ratio is poor; you can find cheaper headphones with the same quality and you can find much better headphones for the same price.
    - bcohen5055 12y ago
      Sound is a very objective measurement so I won't go ahead and say that beats sounds "better" or "worse". However (I can't seem to find the link now) on many audiophile forums Beats have been measured to skew to better frequency response in the low range. Therefore they will sound more thumpy but without warm mids and crisp highs. Beats has engineered their headphones this way for a specific marketing demographic, I just don't know if this is what the majority of Apple customers want and interpret as good performance.
paulgerhardt 12y ago
As nerd-ragey as some people are about the Beats deal, they have some amazing fit and finish with regards to manufacturing. See for instance their paint: most painted plastics experience an undesirable amount of "orange peeling" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_peel_(effect) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_peel_(effect)). This is caused in part by not getting the temperature of the paint high enough to form a smooth finish. Metal can withstand significantly higher temperatures than plastic. This is usually why car paints look so much better than Krylon's. By over-molding their plastic tops around a metal base, Beats was able to increase the tolerable temperature range. Next time you roll into a Best Buy, compare the 'shinyness' and 'smoothness' of Beats to any other product made by Samsung, HP, or Sony. We learnt this through Chinese manufacturing forums where if anything, the idea of 'target demographic' does not apply - Beats simply figured out how to put a nicer finish on their product than the competition using innovative manufacturing techniques and increase margin.
flarg 12y ago
I wonder if it's really about penetration into music videos. I remember iPods being all over music videos for a few years back in the day (made my recently purchased iPod go from geeky to cool overnight!) - but then they disappeared - maybe because of Apple's battles with the music industry. Now it's Beats in every music related video, PA, media asset; something Apple needs to tap back in to, I guess.
funnykid101 12y ago
Its a dude that look just like 2pac Tryna start a rap career!!!!! Must watch if u instrested http://youtu.be/0Uh1aG8lzGc http://youtu.be/0Uh1aG8lzGc
taigeair 12y ago
I'm not clear why Beats are so popular actually. I find socially it sends the wrong message for me, functionally not as great as Bose or BW, and a bit too big + plastic for my taste.
- prawn 12y ago
  Might be wrong for you or I, but it's a social signal for many other people. Similar to how people wear t-shirts around with giant logos on them. It says (partly) "I can afford to pay $60 for this t-shirt." Or "I am like you." When Ralph Lauren introduced those Polo shirts with the 3-4" polo logo on them rather than the usual 1" logo, I thought it was some kind of experiment.
tnash 12y ago
Maybe Tim Cook can just start buying companies and wait for other people to figure out what to do with them. It's certainly interesting to see how many people think that Apple is infallible. They make mistakes just like any other company.
xxcode 12y ago
I have experience in getting high-end plastic boxes manufactured (some in US, and increasingly in China because of price dynamics). Believe me, it is not a big deal. The variations are all commodity - you may have to get different molds made and finish made, but they will work will all different types of plastics. The plastics are already colored when in the pellet form (i.e., you dont paint on them) so colors variations are trivial to achieve.
- durkie 12y ago
  contact info? we're looking to do packaging for an upcoming product of ours if you'd have any interest in lending some advice. :)
pessimizer 12y ago
The beats acquisition is just Apple shedding the idea that it's a technology company, and adding more prole-luxury fashion items to its lineup. Apple + Nike merger anyone?
ChikkaChiChi 12y ago
I started travelling a lot and I wanted a bluetooth pair of headphones that had active noise cancelling. Beats was the only option that ticked off all of my needs and didn't blow out the second I tried pumping even minor amounts of bass through them (I'm looking at you, Bose). I was able to even get them in matte black so they are less gaudy. They aren't for everyone...but most of us age 70 and under would dig the sound quality on them.
jpalomaki 12y ago
This article has a good point, which I never had thought. Headphones are also a fashion accessory. They are very visible, the most visible piece of technology you are carrying. Same thing goes with watches. For many people its about brand and fashion, not so much about the features. Maybe Apple wants to be in the fashion business. If you have watches and headphones, you pretty much cover all the technology people are currently wearing. And it makes very much sense to have both products inside the same company so that you can provide matching pairs. If the pricing is reasonable, you could even imagine selling multiple sets of products for same customers. This headphone/watch pair for jogging, another one for your business look. Also the Apple Store chain would fit in the picture quite nicely. One problem could be that Apple is getting lots of people to the stores, but they currently have a limited range of products to sell for them. You don't need that many iPhones or Macs, iPads are a little bit expensive for impulse purchase.

157 points by _pius 12y ago

The more closely you look at Beats, the more they make sense as a serious asset to a consumer electronics company, and the less plausible the "Apple just needed to get a streaming service off the ground" story is. Two more angles to consider: * Owning Beats puts Apple hardware on the heads of a huge fraction of every mobile user, whether they use iOS or not. Having a Beats brand affinity for those users makes it easier to introduce new products to them. * Owning Beats gives Apple access to Beats sales channels; whatever retail real estate Beats has is now controlled by Apple.

DevX101 12y ago
> Owning Beats puts Apple hardware on the heads of a huge fraction of every mobile user You might be on to something here. What if Apple's plan is to make the headphone itself a network enabled device with access to the app store? While headphones are currently 'dumb', there's no reason it has to continue to be the case. Network enabled watches. Network enabled headphones. Network enabled glasses. If Apple get's the leading brand in all these categories, then making the leap just suddenly became a lot easier.
- tptacek 12y ago
  Maybe. Generally, though, I'm just saying: you should look at all the elements of the business: the promotion strategy, the user base, the product positioning, the distribution and sales channels, the supply chain (as Khoi Vinh points out), the integration story... and the competitive tensions in all those places. You can't just look at the feature/function/benefit table and make a snap judgement; the feature/function/benefit list of a billion dollar business is rarely the whole story.
- adamio 12y ago
  high-margin headphones and iPods are complimentary products, integrating an iPod into Beats is essentially making an iPod free - which is a good thing if you own Beats
InclinedPlane 12y ago
My theory on confusion over the Beats purchase is that Apple fanboys have a reluctance to admit that Apple is significantly a fashion company. Not the beacon of technical excellence(asterisk) they set it up to be in their mind. The reality is that Beats is also primarily a fashion company. Also with a strong brand. Also with a product line that sells at a high markup. They go together like pancakes and maple syrup. If Apple puts Beats headphones in their stores they will sell just as much as they do now. Why wouldn't Apple want a slice of that profit? And if they make a next generation Beats headphone that can only be used with Apple products? Well, that's even more money. Edit: asterisk: which is not to say that Apple lacks technical excellence, but the reason why they are so successful is not their engineering credentials, it's because they are able to marry aesthetics and engineering.
- tptacek 12y ago
  To the extent that you can say the exact same thing about Porsche, I agree; just bear in mind that it takes more than a sense of style to execute on "Porsche". But also look how Apple integrates downmarket. To a first approximation nobody's first car is a Porsche, but the less expensive iPhones are viable first smartphones. There's something powerful about being able, at least in theory, to address the whole market that way. Porsche probably can't change the way everyone engages with cars, but Apple can do that with mobile.
  - jarek 12y ago
    I would suggest that it's more that an upmarket of mobile phones doesn't really exist right now. Pretty much everyone has the same thing. Who's the Porsche or the Rolls of mobile? To a first approximation, much of the first world can afford a 5S if they really want one. Vertu? Heh.
    - pas 12y ago
      Yeah, but a Vertu is excessive, just as a Porsche. Normcore is the word. You have to look just better than your peers, not everyone at once. So, even though a lot of people couldn't affort a pricier phone than the 5S, even those who can afford a Vertu stay on the 5S and spend on other accessories.
bsenftner 12y ago
Owning Beats aligns Apple with hip hop and club culture, perhaps the largest driver of global consumer entertainment outside of film/tv.
- prawn 12y ago
  Further, it potentially heads off any challenge from an upstart or established player taking that road.
8ig8 12y ago
Maybe it's not watches, but headphones? Siri + speakers you're already wearing. Health-wise, it must be beneficial to be close to the head opposed to the wrist. Maybe.

jaynos 12y ago

I find it hard to believe that apple couldn't make additional colors if they wanted. I don't think it's a lack of technological know how. They could pick that up without acquiring a entire additional company. Limited colors on the iphone or ipod make sense. For the most part, it's an item that stays in your pocket. I'm sure some people care about additional design choices, but most people solve this by buying a case (which they'd do anyway). Beats, due to the fact that they are headphones, are worn as head gear. Yes, they could have stuck with a few simple colors, but it's easier to justify lots of options when people will actually see your user wearing the product. This gives your user an incentive to want a more unique design and be willing to pay for it.

bwy 12y ago
I have to agree somewhat with this comment. In particular, is handling 60 SKU's really a huge problem with technology and management nowadays? It's a pity there's so much focus on small details like that and the color selection, because that's really not the main point, which the article does touch on - the two companies understand and heavily influence the consumer market and fashion, so the partnership makes sense. It's that simple. By the way, Apple was the one who made the single-look product cool, with the iPhone. It's so cool that its own colorful 5C isn't selling very well (by its standards, of course) [1]. Restricting its color choices was not only because of the difficulty in doing so, it was a deliberate design choice. [Edit, based on parent comment: And getting people to buy overpriced cases to customize instead? Genius!] 1. Google "iPhone 5C sales". Observe articles calling it, e.g., "Failure Flop" and "dismal."
- ben1040 12y ago
  The water there is kind of muddy w/r/t the 5c because in addition to being available in multiple colors, it's also basically 2012's phone. They took the product that would have otherwise occupied the "value buyer" part of the lineup, with last year's old model, and relaunched it as if it were a new product. Is it that people prefer the single-look of the 5s, or is it that they are not willing to trade the latest-and-greatest hardware for colors? Do people care more about utility than color? Personally I like the look of the 5c better, but I wouldn't endure two years of having to enter a lockscreen PIN when I could forego the colors and get a 5s.

kadjar 12y ago

Or... maybe the reason behind the acquisition has more to do with Beats' subscription streaming service than hardware.

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acangiano 12y ago

This is an interesting take but I strongly doubt it's what motivated Apple to make the purchase.

clay_to_n 12y ago

There's this narrative that Apple's lack of design choice has helped them, by keeping things consistent. White headphones were, for a while, almost exclusively iPod earbuds. If you saw someone rocking a white headphone cable, you knew what was in their pocket. They've branched out a little, with colors for select devices, but for the most part their visual choices are very limited. Beats seems like they've done an excellent job of offering a wide selection while still keeping brand consistency and recognizability. In this regard, I think the article's speculation makes sense.

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irremediable 12y ago
This is a really interesting point. I admire how Beats have managed to differentiate themselves so effectively.

dropbear 12y ago

Not necessarily related to this article, but does anyone know how much money the "Beats Audio" partnerships with things like HP laptops and HTC phones bring in for the Beats brand? Seems like a good hedge in the laptop and smartphone markets where Apple wins regardless of whether consumers buy iPhones or competing devices that are "Powered by Beats" or whatever they call it.

fmitchell0 12y ago

as a 'backend' dev who is constantly working on their design language education, it's further proof that design is everything.

drzaiusapelord 12y ago

In the end, who knows why they bought them. I do wonder if Beats had design and technological patents a company like Apple would rather buy than fight over in court. I wouldn't be surprised if Apple just bought them so they could sell a premium non-earbud headset with zero legal woes or fears of being called a copycat. I mean Beats look like an Apple product from a bizaro world where Steve Jobs wasn't there to say no to everything that wasn't ultra-minimalistic. Everything else, like their design team, streaming customers, and brand is just gravy. Apple tries hard not to be a victim of the patent war they're always reigniting. I find it hard to believe IP isn't involved in a very, very significant way here.

nrzuk 12y ago

This article lost me at the part suggesting that Dre Beats are premium headphones. Having listened to a few different sets of these "cool" headphones I can personally think they are overpriced crap, don't think they are worth more than £20-30 tops simply based on audio quality. People are simply buying them as a fashion item!

hsod 12y ago
If I never heard someone shit on Dre Beats again it would be too soon. We all get it. Dre Beats are crap. Your tastes are better than the masses. This has literally nothing to do with the article, and even if it wasn't played out it would be silly semantics. They're priced like premium headphones, so that makes them premium.
coldtea 12y ago
>This article lost me at the part suggesting that Dre Beats are premium headphones. Premium is about price, as in "paid a premium". Dictionary.com definition #11: "of higher price or cost". It also has the meaning of higher quality, but mostly associated with the price and exclusivity (or perceived exclusivity. Premium products, like shoes and clothing, can also be had by millions of people -- it's just that not everybody can afford them easily that makes them "premium"). So being overpriced is not really ar argument against it being "premium". If anything, it's the opposite. >People are simply buying them as a fashion item! The Beats are OK-ish sound wise, but not for audiophiles. Newer, more upmarket versions, are a little better sonically however. Interestingly, they make for useful monitors if you are a musician, in the sense that tons of your listeners will use the same cans, so you get a sense of what the final master will sound for them.
- moheeb 12y ago
  You are mixing up the definitions of "premium"; it doesn't have to be about price. People often pay a premium for something that is not worth the extra money...that is the definition of Beats headphones. The other definition of premium is analogous to high end. That is the opposite of Beats headphones.

programminggeek 12y ago

Apple already has this figured out. Perhaps it's too easy to forget the iPod, but the iPod, especially the mini, nano, and shuffle all have color as a key part of the value proposition. Apple finally did that with the iPhone 5c. The most clever thing Apple did was the 5c colors with the different colored covers. Those haven't really taken off in a huge way, but I think that is in part due to the buying cycle of phones. Apple gets mass personalization in a big way. You can still get your devices engraved by Apple I believe. The only company that I've seen take a real swing at something similar is Motorola with Moto X. Too bad Google sold them.

bluthru 12y ago

I think the author is missing something important: There is greater inventory flexibility with headphone internals than iPhone internals. Many different and very advanced technologies go into an iPhone. Most recently, the new fingerprint scanner was holding back the 5s. Every wrong assumption about color demand meant that an iPhone sale was delayed. (Assuming that it was even the correct storage size.) It's a world apart from speakers.

moskie 12y ago

It is so amazing to watch the attention that people give Apple's business decisions. Seriously, how much their actions get read into is unparalleled. Any other company, we'd just say "yup, they bought a headphone company, and now they'll be selling some more/different headphones" and then we'd move on. But with Apple, it just must, must represent some form of tidal shift.

k-mcgrady 12y ago
Because unlike most other big tech companies Apple doesn't make big purchases like this. They normally acquire small, unknown companies which are focussed on a specific technology Apple needs (mapping for example).
- nirvanatikku 12y ago
  @moskie - it is indeed amazing, and it's part of their engine that makes them truly unique (that it has been this way for so long, and continues to be just as talked about). @k-mcgrady: true, but if you look at what percentage of their cash they spent on it, it's not as significant as acquisitions from other, similarly sized companies.. but your point remains: it is out of the ordinary for $aapl.

bjt 12y ago

While I don't disagree with anything in the article, I think it, and most commentators, are thinking too small. When thinking about wearable computing, one big challenge is to take a small, weird-shaped form factor, like sunglasses or watches, and cram enough computer hardware in there to support all the features that people want. Why not stick a computer in the headphones? Between the earmuffs and the headband, there's a lot more room to stick a computer into a set of Beats than there is in a wristwatch. I can imagine being able to listen to the Beats music service using just the Beats headphones, and not even needing to connect them to a computer.

dm2 12y ago
A bluetooth connection to the phone would be a much better option in my opinion.
- zaroth 12y ago
  Not necessarily BT, but I totally agree with the premise. There's a limit to the number of CPUs, SSDs, and OSs a person wants to carry and manage. By all means, carry displays and HIDs of all sorts and sizes, but please drive them all from my "phone". I think this concept carries all the way to "laptops" which are nothing more than a few ounces of battery, screen, keyboard, trackpad and a radio. Just a few more generations till Apple can "do it right" and they'll deploy the tech. I guess the only "problem" is such a laptop wouldn't become obsolete fast enough...

davars 12y ago

Beats has a track record of producing consumer electronics that are accepted as fashionable. The iPhone already blurs the line between tool and accessory and it spends most of its time in a pocket or purse. A smart watch or head mounted display is more visible and needs to overcome a nerdy bias to appeal to the mass market.

Tycho 12y ago

One thing about Beats is that they really are ridiculously popular. They are consumer electronics items which are also fashion accessories. I don't think there's really any other brand like that in the industry, at least not that I can think of. Even Apple's products while stylish I'd hesitate to call them fashion accessories. Maybe they were worried primarily that Google would buy Beats and suddenly hold more 'cool' appeal than Apple (particularly with youngsters).

paulgerhardt 12y ago

As nerd-ragey as some people are about the Beats deal, they have some amazing fit and finish with regards to manufacturing. See for instance their paint: most painted plastics experience an undesirable amount of "orange peeling" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_peel_(effect) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_peel_(effect)). This is caused in part by not getting the temperature of the paint high enough to form a smooth finish. Metal can withstand significantly higher temperatures than plastic. This is usually why car paints look so much better than Krylon's. By over-molding their plastic tops around a metal base, Beats was able to increase the tolerable temperature range. Next time you roll into a Best Buy, compare the 'shinyness' and 'smoothness' of the overmolded Beats to any other plastic product made by Samsung, HP, or Sony. We learnt this through Chinese manufacturing forums where if anything, the idea of 'target demographic' does not apply - Beats simply figured out how to put a nicer finish on their product than the competition using innovative manufacturing techniques and increase margin.

moheeb 12y ago
"Next time you roll into a Best Buy, compare the 'shinyness' and 'smoothness' of Beats to any other product" Yeah...just don't compare the sound.
- Crito 12y ago
  The sound on Beats is actually good; much better than what most people have with their headphones so most users will experience an improvement by switching to them. The problem is that the cost:sound ratio is poor; you can find cheaper headphones with the same quality and you can find much better headphones for the same price.
  - bcohen5055 12y ago
    Sound is a very objective measurement so I won't go ahead and say that beats sounds "better" or "worse". However (I can't seem to find the link now) on many audiophile forums Beats have been measured to skew to better frequency response in the low range. Therefore they will sound more thumpy but without warm mids and crisp highs. Beats has engineered their headphones this way for a specific marketing demographic, I just don't know if this is what the majority of Apple customers want and interpret as good performance.

paulgerhardt 12y ago

As nerd-ragey as some people are about the Beats deal, they have some amazing fit and finish with regards to manufacturing. See for instance their paint: most painted plastics experience an undesirable amount of "orange peeling" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_peel_(effect) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_peel_(effect)). This is caused in part by not getting the temperature of the paint high enough to form a smooth finish. Metal can withstand significantly higher temperatures than plastic. This is usually why car paints look so much better than Krylon's. By over-molding their plastic tops around a metal base, Beats was able to increase the tolerable temperature range. Next time you roll into a Best Buy, compare the 'shinyness' and 'smoothness' of Beats to any other product made by Samsung, HP, or Sony. We learnt this through Chinese manufacturing forums where if anything, the idea of 'target demographic' does not apply - Beats simply figured out how to put a nicer finish on their product than the competition using innovative manufacturing techniques and increase margin.

flarg 12y ago

I wonder if it's really about penetration into music videos. I remember iPods being all over music videos for a few years back in the day (made my recently purchased iPod go from geeky to cool overnight!) - but then they disappeared - maybe because of Apple's battles with the music industry. Now it's Beats in every music related video, PA, media asset; something Apple needs to tap back in to, I guess.

funnykid101 12y ago

Its a dude that look just like 2pac Tryna start a rap career!!!!! Must watch if u instrested http://youtu.be/0Uh1aG8lzGc http://youtu.be/0Uh1aG8lzGc

taigeair 12y ago

I'm not clear why Beats are so popular actually. I find socially it sends the wrong message for me, functionally not as great as Bose or BW, and a bit too big + plastic for my taste.

prawn 12y ago
Might be wrong for you or I, but it's a social signal for many other people. Similar to how people wear t-shirts around with giant logos on them. It says (partly) "I can afford to pay $60 for this t-shirt." Or "I am like you." When Ralph Lauren introduced those Polo shirts with the 3-4" polo logo on them rather than the usual 1" logo, I thought it was some kind of experiment.

tnash 12y ago

Maybe Tim Cook can just start buying companies and wait for other people to figure out what to do with them. It's certainly interesting to see how many people think that Apple is infallible. They make mistakes just like any other company.

xxcode 12y ago

I have experience in getting high-end plastic boxes manufactured (some in US, and increasingly in China because of price dynamics). Believe me, it is not a big deal. The variations are all commodity - you may have to get different molds made and finish made, but they will work will all different types of plastics. The plastics are already colored when in the pellet form (i.e., you dont paint on them) so colors variations are trivial to achieve.

durkie 12y ago
contact info? we're looking to do packaging for an upcoming product of ours if you'd have any interest in lending some advice. :)

pessimizer 12y ago

The beats acquisition is just Apple shedding the idea that it's a technology company, and adding more prole-luxury fashion items to its lineup. Apple + Nike merger anyone?

ChikkaChiChi 12y ago

I started travelling a lot and I wanted a bluetooth pair of headphones that had active noise cancelling. Beats was the only option that ticked off all of my needs and didn't blow out the second I tried pumping even minor amounts of bass through them (I'm looking at you, Bose). I was able to even get them in matte black so they are less gaudy. They aren't for everyone...but most of us age 70 and under would dig the sound quality on them.

jpalomaki 12y ago

This article has a good point, which I never had thought. Headphones are also a fashion accessory. They are very visible, the most visible piece of technology you are carrying. Same thing goes with watches. For many people its about brand and fashion, not so much about the features. Maybe Apple wants to be in the fashion business. If you have watches and headphones, you pretty much cover all the technology people are currently wearing. And it makes very much sense to have both products inside the same company so that you can provide matching pairs. If the pricing is reasonable, you could even imagine selling multiple sets of products for same customers. This headphone/watch pair for jogging, another one for your business look. Also the Apple Store chain would fit in the picture quite nicely. One problem could be that Apple is getting lots of people to the stores, but they currently have a limited range of products to sell for them. You don't need that many iPhones or Macs, iPads are a little bit expensive for impulse purchase.